Will Bruin’s early career is nearly identical to Dwayne De Rosario’s Dynamo tenure

Will Bruin’s early career is nearly identical to Dwayne De Rosario’s Dynamo tenure

Dynamo forward Will Bruin is set for his 75th career regular season game on Saturday at Real Salt Lake. With the third-year striker set to reach the early milestone, it is worth comparing his early career to Dynamo legend Dwayne De Rosario.

The Canadian playmaker helped the Dynamo win consecutive MLS Cups in 2006 and 2007 and was an MLS Best XI selection in both seasons. De Rosario was also the 2007 MLS Cup MVP after scoring the game-winning goal for a 2-1 win. De Rosario has had one of the best careers in league history, with 102 goals and 315 appearances in a 13-year career that includes the 2011 MLS MVP award.

De Rosario spent three seasons with the Dynamo, 2006-2008. Bruin is in his third year with Houston after Dominic Kinnear traded up to select him in the first round of the 2011 MLS SuperDraft.

Here are the regular season numbers for each player in their time with the Dynamo:

Player

Games played

Games started

Minutes

Goals

Assists

Shots

Shots on goal

Dwayne De Rosario

78

73

6,455

24

11

195

84

Will Bruin

74

69

5,658

22

10

181

72

The numbers are remarkably similar (with an understanding that De Rosario was primarily an attacking midfielder and Bruin a forward). Bruin has nearly accumulated identical goals and assist totals over a similar number of games. Here is a scenario: If Bruin starts the next four games and has two goals and an assist during that span, he will have an identical statistical line to De Rosario after 78 games with Houston: 78 games, 73 starts, 24 goals and 11 assists.

In the playoffs, the story is similar. De Rosario scored two goals and provided four assists in ten career playoff games with Houston (all starts). Bruin has four goals and one assist in nine career playoff games (six starts).

Moreover, from the 2011 MLS SuperDraft class, no player has scored more goals (22) or tallied more assists (10) than Bruin. Only four players, Perry Kitchen (84 games), Darlington Nagbe (83), Jalil Anibaba (83) and C.J. Sapong (80) have appeared in more games. Sapong is second to Bruin from the 2011 class with 15 goals.